Nokia N80
Thursday, March 8th, 2007Nokia N80
The arrival of the Nokia N80 marks the start of a new era : true mobile web browsing has now become reality!
The uniqueness of the Nokia N80 web browsing experience is based on the ground breaking open source S60 web browser, the incredibly crisp and bright high resolution screen and the Wifi access to wireless LAN networks allowing for cheap internet connectivity whenever within private or public WLAN coverage, all this in a compact slider phone form factor.
And if one feature stands out above all others, it must be the fabulous screen which probably can be best appreciated when viewing maps. The high resolution of 352 by 416 pixels allows to see up to a quarter of a web page which allows for very little scrolling to see all information (navigation is further helped by the display of a thumbnail image of the full web page in the corner). As an aside, only a small number of S60 devices feature this “super” resolution screen and the trend seen in the latest devices is the QVGA 240 x 320 screen size which offers considerably less precision.
Next to the browsing experience, it is the form factor of the N80 that catches the eye: a compact slider phone available in silver and black. Although looking very stylish it does take some getting used to. When closed, the phone is somewhat out of balance when pushing any of the buttons or joystick, especially compared with a monoblock phone where the joystick is positioned more to the center of the phone between the display and the keypad. While the area of the phone is quite small, the volume is quite big due to its thickness, quite the opposite of the Motorola RAZR. When slided out the phone regains its balance, although one has to get used to pushing the buttons of the very receded keypad. The phone slides out a bit too easily, resulting in occasional unwanted sliding. It should lock into its closed position a bit more firmly. A similar remark can be made for the mechanical handle for close up mode at the back of the phone. Finally, the small plastic cover for the memory card space is somewhat difficult to close, compared to the more rigid metal doors of previous phones. So, overall, the form factor gets a better score on looks than on ease of use.
A remarkable feature of the N80 is the use of landscape mode both when using the 3 megapixel camera (with nicely positioned dedicated camera button) and in the gallery view. Unfortunately, landscape mode has not been implemented in the web browser which is a real shame!
A nice feature is the visual FM radio (only to be used with ear piece), radio always being interesting to pick up news flashes and music when all other connectivity options are absent.
Overall the Nokia N80 scores very high on nearly all aspects and is without doubt one of the most complete and powerful smartphones available. It comes out as the best Symbian smartphone in the 3 LIB comparison grid - a very good reference indeed!
As far as add-on applications are concerned - after all the N80 is a smartphone - , the choice is currently very limited. The binary break of the S60 3d edition platform upgrade leaving its marks ! It is only a matter of time for this gap to be filled, though it is surprising that even some major applications are still not available on 3d edition e.g. Adobe PDF reader, Ogg Vorbis music player, Yahoo Go Mobile client,… and some others having become available only very recently e.g. Mobipocket reader. It does highlight that the step to S60 third edition does present some major challenges even for the biggest developers, considering that a large number of 3d edition phone models are now widely available!
Some must have applications for the N80:
- Radio streaming (freely available as one of the Nokia open source projects)
- Opera browser (better zooming than S60 browser and password saving feature)
- Mobipocket reader
- SExplorer file manager
- Screenshot
- Office Suite from mobi-systems (Word and Excel) :
get your 40 % discount on Nokia Software Market by subscribing to the new S60 site.
- SplashID to save passwords
- Podcasting (Beta version)
In most cases you will have to pay a small upgrade fee to download the 3d edition version of your existing software, although in some cases the upgrade is free (e.g. for SplashID). In rare cases, the full amount will have to be paid!
Updates
- Adobe pdf reader is available from Nokia Asia site!
General Network: UMTS / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900
Size: 352 x 416 pixels, 35 x 41 mm
Weight: 134 g
Display Type: TFT, 256K colors
Display Size: 352 x 416 pixels, 35 x 41 mm
Memory: miniSD (up to 2GB), hot swap, 128 MB card included,40 MB internal memory
Bluetooth: Yes
Infrared: Yes
USB: Yes
OS: Symbian OS v9.1, Series 60 UI 3rd Edition
Color: Silver, Black
Camera: 3.2 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, video(CIF), flash; secondary VGA videocall camera
Other…: UPnP technology
- Push to talk
- Java MIDP 2.0
- MP3/AAC/MPEG4 player
- Stereo FM Radio
- T9
- Voice dial/memo
- PIM including calendar, to-do list
- Built-in handsfree
THE USER INTERFACE
A very important and visible enhancement of S60 3d edition is the addition of Flash animation. The presence of Flash is immediately noticed when opening the “Tutorial” featuring very nice animated, dynamic screens.
It is also very apparent in the web feeds menu of the S60 web browser and the Podcasting application through the use of horizontally running text titles making optimal use of the limited “screen real estate” using the hird dimension of time to display information without the user having to push any buttons for scrolling.
In this way, Flash is an essential addition to the S60 user interface as it has true mobile relevance:
- draw attention to important information by adding motion to the display
- making optimal use of the small screen size to display as much information as possible
- make information more visible on a small screen for quick reading
- adding “style” to the user interface (as important as adding design to the phone form factor)
So, Flash is much more than another fancy feature, it is there to stay!
An important new addition to the S60 hardware interface is the new Flash based multimedia key (positioned next to the S60 menu key, on the same button) offering easy and quick access to media applications by pushing this key and then using the joystick to choose 1 of 4 configurable applications. Although meant for multimedia applications, any built-in or add-on application can be assigned to any key. In this way, it behaves similar to the “Active standby apps.”, providing additional shortcuts to your favourite applications.
Expanding on the previous point, there are now no fewer than 15 shortcuts to launch applications:
- 6 active standby shortcuts
- 2 standby PIM apps : calendar and to do (don’t use any other shortcut for these!)
- 2 soft keys
- 4 multimedia key shortcuts
- 1 dedicated camera key (when keeping it pushed the camera interface is launched, don’t use any other shortcuts for this)
Also, speed dial allows to directly call one of your 8 favourite numbers (so no need to configure contacts as a shortcut).
As a consequence - with 15 shortcuts - the average user will rarely need to launch the S60 menu to browse for applications to launch!
HOME NETWORKING
UPnP home networking makes it possible to connect your phone to your PC or other networked devices to share pictures, music and video clips music or video files. Setup is straightforward! “Home Media Server” needs to be installed on your PC, a WLAN access point has to be defined on the N80 and the files to be shared have to be defined, both on the PC and on the N80 (Settings : “sharing on”/ Share content) . The main use currently is mutual acess between the phone and a desktop, awaiting more widespread availability of other networked devices (TV, printer,…)
There are several modes of operation or use cases:
- use the N80 to control the playback/viewing of music, video clips or pictures on your desktop
- use the N80 to playback/view music, video clips or pictures stored on your phone on your desktop
- download music, clips or pictures from your desktop to your N80 (and listen to / watch them on the N80)
- download music, clips or pictures from your N80 to your desktop
The most interesting use is probably to display pictures stored on your phone on your desktop, without having to download them to your PC first. In fac,t any media files stored anywhere, on any netwoked device, can be displayed on any other networked device, using your N80 as a remote control e.g. display pictures stored on your desktop on your networked TV, only using the N80 as your remote control!
One limitation is that only media files can be shared, it is e.g. not possible to transfer documents (word, pdf) or other files. When browsing files on another device, no preview (thumnails) of pictures is given making it difficult to know which pictures to download to e.g. the N80, the pictures can only be viewed after download. A much better user interface should be made available.
MEMORY
Memory should no longer be a limiting factor on the N80 although the paradigm of careful memory management on a smartphone still holds: don’t leave too many applications open on your phone. RAM memory is 40 Megabyte, a royal upgrade from the sub 10 Megabyte predecessors of the N80. Affordable mini SD memory cards of 2 Gigabyte are available, making storage virtually unlimited for pictures, documents, e-mail,…, unless you want to store your complete music collection on your phone. Anyway, with the Home Media Server you will have access at home to your complete music collection on your desktop!
In part 3 of the N80 review the S60 web browser will be reviewed in detail and compared with the Opera browser.
Dimensions
Volume: 97.4 cc
Weight: 134 g
Length: 95.4 mm
Width (max): 50 mm
Thickness (max): 26 mm
Display and User Interface
Active matrix colour display (352×416, up to 262,144 colours)
Automatic brightness control for display
4-way scroll key with center select, two softkeys, application-key, edit and clear key, send & end key, multimedia key.
Dedicated capture key for instant camera activation.
User interface: S60 3rd Edition software on Symbian OS
Imaging and Video
Integrated 3 Megapixel camera with up to 20 x digital zoom and close-up mode.
Landscape capture with dedicated capture key
Integrated Flash LED with anti-red eye
High-quality video capture in MP4 and 3GP formats with up to 5x digital zoom
Image and video editors
Nokia Lifeblog
Image and video uploading to the web
XpressPrint over infrared, Bluetooth wireless technology, PictBridge and UPnP directly from Gallery
Camera Specifications
Sensor: 3 Megapixel CMOS
Focal length: 4.7 mm (35 mm equivalent)
Focus range: close up mode: 17.5 cm to 23.4 cm, Normal mode: 68 cm to infinity
Flash LED modes: On, Off, Automatic, Anti Red-Eye
Still image resolutions: 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 800 x 600, 640 x 480 pixels
Still images file format: EXIF (JPEG),.jpg
Video capture resolutions: 352 x 288; 176 x 144 (pixels)
Exposure: Automatic, Manual EV correction +/-2.0
White balance: Auto, sunny, incandescent, fluorescent, cloudy
Image capture: JPEG (16.7 million/24-bit)
Color tones: Normal, sepia, black & white, negative
Capture modes: Normal, self-timer, sequence
Scene settings: Normal mode: Auto, portrait, landscape, night portrait, night landscape, sports, candlelight, and user. Close up mode: close-up and document
Advanced camera modes: self timer, advanced sequence mode, 10 scene modes and brightness, contrast, sharpness, colour saturation, white balance, exposure compensation and colour tones adjustments, image quality settings and video stabilisation.
Integrated VGA camera on front with 2 x digital zoom
Video capture: H.263 (16.7 million/24-bit color)
Nokia Xpress Solutions
Nokia XpressPrint- Print from your phone. Print on the go. Order prints online. Nokia brings you fast and easy ways to print your photos, calendars, contacts and e-mails.
Nokia XpressTransfer- Manage your photos and videos between all your compatible devices with Nokia XpressTransfer storing solution.
Nokia XpressShare- Nokia makes it simple for you to share your personal content quickly and easily with Nokia XpressShare sharing solution.
Nokia XpressMusic- Nokia XpressMusic, fast and easy access to music.
Entertainment
Integrated digital music player with stereo audio. Supported file formats: MP3, AAC, m4a, eAAC+ and wma
USB mass storage that enables easy drag and drop of files, such as music tracks
Stereo FM radio with support for Visual Radio
Multimedia player (RealPlayer) with 3GPP & MPEG4 AVC video streaming support
Internet browser
Productivity Features
Office document viewers (Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel)
Nokia PC Suite connectivity with USB, Bluetooth wireless technology, and IrDa (infrared)
WLAN connectivity
Advanced S60 PIM (calendar, contacts, task list, PIM printing, etc.)
Voice recording, dialing and voice commands
Nokia Push to talk (PoC) application
SettingWizard for easy settings configuration
Video sharing and two-way video call
Messaging
E-mail with document viewers to view attachments
SMS, multimedia messaging (MMS)
Memory Functions
Up to 40 MB of internal dynamic memory for images, contacts, text messages, multimedia messages, ringing tones, images, video clips, calendar notes, to-do list and applications. Please note that the preinstalled applications on the user data area of the device memory will reduce the informed amount of available memory, unless uninstalled. *
Expandable memory: 128 MB miniSD card. **
Hot swap slot for easy memory card insertion and removal
*Changes to product details are possible without prior notice. Application offering may vary. Dynamic memory means that the available memory is shared between dynamic memory functions. When any of these functions is used, there is less available memory for other functions which are also dependent on dynamic memory.
** Please note that the memory capacity of the memory card in the sales package may vary depending on the market and/or your network operator/service provider.
Connectivity
Integrated Wireless LAN (802.11g) and UPnP (Universal Plug and Play)
Bluetooth wireless technology
Infrared
Pop-Port™ with USB 2.0 Full Speed with mass storage class
Operating Frequency and Data Transfer
Quadband EDGE/GSM 850/900/1800/1900 + WCDMA 1900 or 2100 MHz with simultaneous voice and packet data (PS max speed UL/DL= 384/384kbps, CS max speed 64kpbs)
EGPRS (Class B, Multislot class 11): Maximum download 236.8 kbps; upload 177.6 kbps
Data transfer (from compatible S40 phones S60 phones)
Java
Java ™ MIDP 2.0, CLDC 1.1
Over-the-air download of Java™-based applications and games
Sales Package
Nokia N80- colours available: Smooth stainless, Pearl black
Nokia Charger (AC-4)
Nokia Charger Adapter (CA-44)
Nokia Battery (BL-5B)
Nokia Stereo Headset (HS-23)
Nokia Connectivity Cable (CA-53)
Wrist strap
128 MB miniSD memory card *
Nokia Audio Adapter (AD-15)
* Please note that the memory capacity of the memory card in the sales package may vary depending on the market and/or your network operator/service provider.
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Power Management
Capacity (mAh)
GSM Talk time
GSM Stand-by
BL-5B 820
Up to 3 hrs*
8 days*
Price of Nokia N80?!
When the Nokia N80 was announced last year, a price of around 500 Euros was mentioned.
With the availablility now imminent, the Nokia N80 price seems to be much higher and there are also amazing differences, higher than ever seen before for a Nokia phone:
Expansys UK : 599.95 GBP (shipping within 2 days)
Mobile fun : 529.95 GBP (shipping within 7 to 14 days)
Pixmania: 442 GBP (shipping 31/5)
There seems to be a clear relation between the price and the availability, retailers cashing in on desperate ” early adopter” customers. Are we seeing a new phenomenon of privileged Nokia retailers/distributors finding new revenue sources based on premiums for early shipment of phones which have been delayed or are only available in limited numbers?
The advice here is definitely to wait a couple of weeks, however desperate you may be to order the N80.
The price of Expansys has already slightly dropped! The price will eventually settle down to 400 GBP / 600 Euros, probably much closer to the real value of the phone!
Subsidised prices can be as low as 260 GBP.
The Nokia N80 is not yet for sale on the new Nokia UK on-line shop. It will be very interesting to see the price!
Also, apparently only the UK version (with UK power plug) seems to be available, the mainland Europe launch only scheduled for September (in some countries)!
